Malum

Last Shift (2014) actually happened to be my favorite horror movie of that year. It was a huge surprise watch for me going in completely blind, not having even seen a preview... Malum is a remake/reimagining of that movie by the same writer/director, Anthony DiBlasi. I questioned the existence of this remake after I saw the trailer since it's only 9 years after the original, and I still question its existence after watching it.

Don't get me wrong, it's a decent watch & a solid horror movie with improved production, graphic gore and an expansion of the cult premise. With all of the added aspects it's strange that it's only 4 minutes longer than the original. But I feel like this is an example of "less is more" where the ambiguity of Last Shift worked more in its favor, while the expansion of the lore regarding the cult makes Malum feel more derivative. There is a particular creepy "jingle" that is used in both movies, but I feel it is over-used in this movie. Also, there are certain aspects of Malum where it can't seem to decide what it wants to be. There's just too much here that reminds me of Hereditary (and other movies), which is somewhat ironic since the same evil entity is mentioned in Last Shift, but not in Malum (if I remember correctly).

However, I can recommend this movie whether or not you've seen Last Shift, but you may enjoy it more if you haven't seen it. It manages to be effectively creepy like the original while being more polished. For streaming, maybe wait for the rental price to go down.

I gave Last Shift (2014) a 8/10. I give Malum (2023) a 6/10. A solid effort with improved production, but it overall falls short of the effectiveness of the original. It's definitely not a bad remake, just not a necessary one.

Did there really need to be a reboot from an earlier horror that in itself was a decent effective horror with a good Carpentersque soundtrack, creepy setting and solid camerawork. Like Haneke's own Funny Games it's a reluctant remake.

It goes on and on with too much emphasis on ghosts disappearing then reappearing and visa versa, predictable levels of characters turning up then disappearing and a friendly pig wandering around the desolate police station.

It has a Silent Hill level of make up that works kinda well but ultimately I've seen this type of horror way too many times before.

No more.

When LAST SHIFT (2014) came out, it was the first film I'd seen in a few years that unnerved me. It was creepy & gritty. It felt like they did a lot with a small amount of money. When I found out that MALUM was a "re-imagining" of LAST SHIFT with the daughter being race-swapped, I had concerns.

Right from the jump, the acting in this movie is awful. It had some positive things going for it because its the same filmmaker. Its shot pretty decently and there's some good special effects. It just doesn't have that grittiness like LAST SHIFT. It's by no means high polish, but its more polished than its predecessor. It felt like a tv movie that was done to push a more diverse main character. Very unnecessary film.

I really liked Last Shift. It did a lot with it's low budget and managed to be a genuinely unnerving and interesting horror movie that felt new and original.

I was really quite excited to see Malum. Some more critical folks out there said it was unnecessary, but I really liked the idea of seeing what Di Blasi would do with the original story given feedback from the original, a bigger budget, and time to think.

Well, for the most part, Malum follows Last Shift quite closely. The overall plot is almost entirely the same and a lot of plot points from Last Shift are recreated.

But Malum does add a fair amount of background and extra exposition, either by adding to existing moments from the original film, qnd by adding entirely new scenes.

The problem is, these additions actually take away far more than they add to the film. It was the vaguearies of the original that helped it shine; the viewer being trusted to make connections and fill in the blanks. Malum, by comparison, spells everything out.

There are other issues too. The deranged cultists are so stereotypical that it's hard to take the performances seriously. The special effects, though apparently more sophisticated and expensive, are actually a lot less convincing (I'm trying to avoid spoilers but The Reveal is probably a prime example). And the ending is not only predictable, irrespective of whether you've seen the original film or not, but also deeply unsatisfying and frustrating.

I want to be clear: I didn't hate Malum. I actually enjoued it, despite some serious flaws; it kept me interested and entertained.

But, having seen Last Shift, the "original draft" of the film, I'm left wondering why it was made, because it has literally already been done much more effectively. By the same director, no less!

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around why "Last Shift" needed a "re-imagining"? As one of the truly great horror films of the last 10 years, I was actually looking forward to the writer/directors next film, and when I heard it was going to be a "re-imagining" of the movie, it raised several alarms. After watching the film, I can confidently say that the only reason this was done was to race swap the main character, and to me, this is one of the most offensive things anyone can do to an already established franchise.

Aside from some great acting by the Male cast members, and some great SFX and gore, this movie is less frightening, less dynamic and definitely less memorable than Last Shift. In fact, I watched this with my partner and in the end he said, "The person who made this should never be allowed to make another movie in their lives". Was this the reaction the creative team was going for, because I'm guaranteed he wouldn't have had the same reaction to Last Shift.

As it stands, I'm getting tired of these creative teams forcing diversity and race-swapping characters just to meet a quota. But I guess that precious ESG score to guarantee funding for projects is more important than creative integrity these days, isn't it?

Summary; Don't watch this movie and just watch Last Shift again. This re-imagining is worse in almost every possible way, and wont be remembered nearly as fondly as the film it claims it is.